Matching colors that already exist in your home is a task done by everyone. If you want your local paint store experts to do it for you, you need to carry with your samples to match and allow them time to work on matching the colors. Alternatively, if you want to DIY, you need excellent lighting, soap, water, and some level of patience.

For you to match existing colors, there are some facts you need to know. The hue or color of an object is generated by light illuminated on the object in question. Sunlight creates all wavelengths and color possibilities that can be seen by the naked eye, something you would not achieve with standard light bulbs. Due to this, an object observed in natural sunlight looks very different when viewed under artificial light like living room lamps and paint store fluorescent lamps. A good example of such scenarios is when driving into a parking lot with harsh sodium vapor lamps; you will notice your car appears to be of a different color.

Flat paint vs. gloss paint

The gloss or sheen of paint additionally makes it tough to match color stains. It is much simpler to match dull, flat colors than matching those with gloss. With high gloss paints, it is nearly impossible to touch up an error using a similar high gloss paint only a few days after a new paint job.

Living room walls

To match walls in your living room, you first rinse them with soap and water. The step is compulsory even if you want to repaint the whole room. Always apply paint on a clean surface that is dry.

Washing

Washing removes accumulated grease, dirt, and smoke particles. Additionally, it is practically impossible to attain an exact match on a dirty wall space. Select the preferred paint, some disposable cups as well as measuring spoons and begin blending paints until you come up with your custom formula.

Purchase

After the walls are spotless, head on to your local paint dealer store and ask for various color chip samples that closely match the color of your wall. Head back home and hold these samples against the clan wall at different angles on a sunny day. Try to choose a color on a wall not exposed to direct sunlight. Desist from holding a chip on a sunbeam-illuminated wall. One of the color chips will most definitely match your wall color.

Head back to the paint store and buy a quart of flat paint for custom tinting to the color chip you feel is the closest match to your wall. For additional luck in matching colors, try to select a color slightly darker than the color you intend to match. Buy an extra quart of white paint. You need the plain white paint to adjust colors back at home.

Matching paint

Apply a little pre-mixed amount of paint to your wall. It would appear to be a perfect match when you apply it at first. However, many flat paint colors become deeper as they dry with the fact that wet, glossy nature of paint and the fact that color pigments concentrate as paint dries cause this happening. In any case, it is all right if the paint dries becoming darker. You will now begin making micro-batches of paint using your paper cup and plastic measuring spoons.

Take one teaspoon of colored paint and one teaspoon of pure white paint and mix in a paper cup. Always clean and dry the measuring spoon well before scooping paint from a different container. Apply this to the wall and give it time to dry, roughly 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can speed up this process by using a hair blow dryer. Change the quantities of white paint and colored paint in case you do not get a perfect match. Take note of the test paint surfaces and the amount of paint that you dilute with one another. With lots of patience and some luck, you will probably get a perfect match.

Seamlessly match your paint color with the highlighted techniques and you will not have to incur extra costs for an extended period.